Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) said leg...

-- like the Do-Not-Call list -- that could get a quick response from Congress. He said he was working with Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) and expected to introduce a bill this year, although he didn’t provide details on what aspects of wireless privacy it would address. Burns said there probably would be a hearing on the Universal Service Fund (USF) within the next 60 days. He said he had concerns about USF spending, including allegations of abuse in the E-rate program, but said legislators should focus first on how USF was funded, “then we'll worry about how the dollars are used.” Burns has floated draft legislation that would require intrastate telecom revenue be subject to USF. He said progress could be made soon on the impasse over the Internet tax moratorium. Burns said the issue was discussed at the recent Republican retreat in Philadelphia and “we may have made some headway.” The bill (S-151) by Sen. Allen (R- Va.) would establish a permanent moratorium on Internet access taxes. But Sens. Alexander (R-Tenn.), Voinovich (R- O.) and Carper (D-Del.) have expressed concerns that the bill also would strip states of their existing authority to levy telecom taxes. Burns said progress made at the retreat was stalled by the discovery of Ricin in the Dirksen Bldg., which “disrupted” negotiations. He said that the U.S. needed to do a better job of broadband deployment and that it was “time to set policy that will foster a broadband build-out.” VoIP will be an important issue, he said, specifically on the USF, but “all of the questions haven’t been answered” and lawmakers and regulators still needed to study the issue. Burns said communications could help improve the political climate in the Middle East. He said if the U.S. were successful in Iraq, it would lead to a “transportation and communication corridor” that could stretch from Tel Aviv to Kuwait City.